The Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) at Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine hosted its third successful biennial symposium on neurodegenerative disorders on April 11 and 12 at the Cullen Auditorium on the Baylor campus.

During the two-day summit titled, “Neurodegeneration: From Cellular Concepts to Clinical Applications,” more than 200 attendees – including physicians, academic and pharmaceutical researchers, patient families, caregivers and leaders from the National Institutes of Health and other health care groups – shared their perspectives and insights on neurodegenerative diseases with the goal of creating strategies to develop therapeutic targets and innovative treatment options for pediatric and adult patients.

The symposium featured impactful presentations highlighting the major mechanisms associated with a number of neurodegenerative disorders such as protein misfolding, altered RNA homeostasis, immune response and the dysfunction of organelles, which are tiny cellular structures that play a critical role in neural function.

“We believe that active participation among all stakeholders helps facilitate a unique forum for interdisciplinary approaches and brings us closer to successful translation,” said NRI Director Dr. Huda Zoghbi, who co-organized the symposium with Dr. Bart De Strooper, director of the VIB Center for Biology of Diseases, Belgium. “Together we can come up with new research ideas, approaches and opportunities to make a difference for individuals with neurodegenerative disorders.”

The NRI meeting produced a series of recommendations and feedback designed to accelerate the next phase of neurodegenerative disease research. These findings will be published as a white paper by Science Translational Medicine to disseminate the information to the broader scientific community.

For more information on the NRI’s groundbreaking research, click here.